Optometry Coding & Billing Alert

Let's face it - a company memo requiring attendance at a HIPAAtraining seminar is not the same thing as two tickets to see Pearl Jam or Jerry Seinfeld.

While it seems difficult to get your optometry practice animated or concerned over protected health information, here's a quick and clever introduction used by Steve Paul, IS manager for the Seattle-based Children's Home Society of Washington, to help warm the crowd:

At the beginning of the training session, Paul asks all of the attendees to introduce themselves to the person seated next to them by sharing such basic information as their name and their department. The introductions continue as Paul asks his audience to share their age and their weight - followed then by their drug addictions and their history of sexually transmitted diseases!

"Some of the younger employees have no problem sharing age and weight, but by the time I get to the STDs, they look at me like I'm crazy," he says. According to Paul, the exercise allows him to broach the importance of HIPAAtraining by giving his attendees "the sense of why information regarding our residents should be kept private." When the training is done, he happily informs the audience that they've been officially "HIPAA-tized."

"I have found [this introduction] successful at every level I've used it, including private conversations and groups," Paul says. "The feedback I've received is that it personalizes the issues and makes the purpose of the training come to life."